Muslim leader clarifies jihad call

Muslim leader clarifies jihad call

JAKARTA (JP): Muslim leader Abdurrahman Wahid insisted on
Monday jihad was not a call for war, but for struggle against
carnal desires such as anger, brutality and violence.

"The spirit of the call for jihad is not to harm others," said
Abdurrahman in response to growing calls by Muslims for a jihad
in Ambon, the riot-ravaged capital of Maluku.

"I strongly disagree when religion is used to threaten
people," said Abdurrahman, who is chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama,
the country's largest Muslim organization, at his office in
Central Jakarta.

"Prophet Muhammad defined jihad akbar as strong self-control,"
said Abdurrahman.

"If people misunderstood the call... and thronged to Ambon
without realizing the true spirit (of the jihad)... imagine the
bloodshed," he said.

At least 182 people have been killed and hundred others
injured since clashes between Muslims and Christians erupted in
mid-January in Maluku. Muslim leaders have described the attacks
against their community as the ethnic cleansing of Muslims.
Christian leaders have denied this claim, saying the situation
has degenerated into an orgy of senseless murders committed by
both sides.

An estimated 50,000 people, mostly migrant Muslims, have fled
Maluku, returning to their hometowns in Southeast and South
Sulawesi.

A number of Muslim organizations, including the Indonesian
Muslim Students Action Front, have pledged to send their members
to Maluku for a jihad, while other groups, including Muhammadiyah
and the United Development Party, have offered to send
"volunteers" to the province if the government approves the move.

A fact-finding mission of the Al Falah Mosque in Surabaya,
East Java, revealed on Monday the bloody and deplorable tragedy
had political motives and to a certain extent constituted
religious strife, although in the beginning triggered by 1,000
Ambonese criminal provocateurs sent from Jakarta.

The team said the Ambonese hoodlums had been transported in
batches on board of Pelni ships starting on December 4, 1998.

Separately, Minister of Religious Affairs Malik Fadjar said
calls for jihad must not be taken in an emotional manner.

"The calls made by Muslim leaders to defend the sovereignty of
Islam must not be thought of as calls for war," Malik said after
a meeting on poverty alleviation here.

"Jihad must be understood as an effort to curb and handle
problems occurring in Ambon. Do not see things in a narrow
perspective. Jihad must be seen in a wider context."

Malik also urged Muslims leaders not to use strong rhetoric
which could incite anger and emotional outbursts.

"They have to enlighten people rather than provoke them. Very
often leaders' remarks become misinterpreted at the grassroots
level."

Malik said the problems in Ambon had become a matter of
national importance. "It is very complex... so do not make
things worse."

The coordinator for the independent Commission for Missing
Persons and Victims of Violence, Munir, also said jihad must be
defined as a call to end violence.

"It is meant as an effort to end violence and prevent any more
victims," Munir told Antara. (edt)